louisiana. 198 in houston, texas. 196 in baltimore, maryland. 133 in dallas, texas. 117 in memphis, tennessee. 116 in phoenix, arizona. 113 in st. louis, missouri. 108 in washington, d.c.,. 108 in kansas city, missouri. and 104 in oakland, california. some people may think that violence is only prevalent in urban america, but that is not true. recent mass murders have occurred in places like tucson, arizona, aurora, colorado, oak creek, wisconsin and newtown, consut. violence is truly all around us. it is at our movie theaters, our shopping centers, colleges places of worship and even our elementary school. during the sandy hook elementary tragedy in newtown, connecticut, a gunman took the lives of 26 people, including 20 children as young as the age of five. the victims were killed at a place where we all consider to be safe. since 1982, there have been more than 60 mass murders carried out with firearms across this country. we have had 19 mass shootings in the last five years alone. that is a rate of more than one every four months. the uptick in these types of crimes should be enough, shou